Merger Simulation in Competition Policy: A Survey

Oliver Budzinski and Isabel Ruhmer ()
Additional contact information
Isabel Ruhmer: University of Mannheim

No 200807, MAGKS Papers on Economics from Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung)

Abstract: Advances in competition economics as well as in computational and empirical methods have offered the scope for the employment of merger simulation models in merger control procedures during the past almost 15 years. Merger simulation is, nevertheless, still a very young and innovative instrument of antitrust and, therefore, its ‘technical’ potential is far from being comprehensively exploited and teething problems in its practical use in the antitrust environment prevail. We provide a classification of state-of-the-art merger simulation models and review their previous employment in merger cases as well as the problems and limitations currently associated with their use in merger control. In summary, merger simulation models represent an important and valuable extension of the toolbox of merger policy. However, they do not qualify as a magic bullet and must be combined with other, more traditional instruments of competition policy in order to comprehensively unfold its beneficial effects.

Keywords: merger simulation; merger control; antitrust; oligopoly theory; auction models; mergers & acquisitions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C15 K21 L40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2008
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cmp, nep-com, nep-ind and nep-law
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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https://www.uni-marburg.de/en/fb02/research-groups ... 7-2008_budzinski.pdf First version, 2008 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: MERGER SIMULATION IN COMPETITION POLICY: A SURVEY (2010)
Working Paper: Merger Simulation in Competition Policy: A Survey (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mar:magkse:200807

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